Eric Boyd wins delay in Christian/Newsom torture slayings trial

From the archives: The January 2007 carjacking, torture, rape and slayings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, has changed the Knoxville community.

Erin Chapin/News Sentinel

The last thing Knox County Criminal Court Judge Bob McGee wanted to do Wednesday was delay a trial in one of Knoxville’s most horrific double slayings.

“These folks have been waiting over 10 years now,” McGee said of the families of torture slaying victims Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

Eric Boyd exits the courtroom following a hearing in Knox County Criminal Court on Wednesday, ...more

Eric Boyd exits the courtroom following a hearing in Knox County Criminal Court on Wednesday, December 5, 2018.

Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel

But as reluctant as McGee was to delay the families’ quest for justice in the 2007 slayings, the judge said he was even more leery of giving that fifth suspect – Eric Boyd – a shot at a successful appeal should he be convicted.

“It would be built-in error,” McGee said, if he turned down Boyd’s request Wednesday via defense attorney Clinton Frazier to delay his upcoming January trial.

With that, McGee on Wednesday delayed Boyd’s trial until Aug. 5 – more than 12 years after the Knox County couple were carjacked, kidnapped, bound, beaten, raped and slain.

The parents of Chris Newsom and Channon Christian react to the Eric Boyd hearing

Knoxville News Sentinel

Defense laments, then seeks delay

Boyd, 46, is already serving an 18-year federal sentence for harboring then-fugitive Lemaricus Davidson – the convicted ringleader in the double slayings – as authorities launched a manhunt to find him after the couple’s bodies were found in January 2007.

But he escaped prosecution in the slayings for more than 11 years. That changed earlier this year when a Knox County grand jury served up – under seal – a 36-count indictment against him. Prosecutors Leland Price and TaKisha Fitzgerald have not yet revealed whether they have new evidence against Boyd or explained the delay in seeking an indictment.

Eric Boyd, right, with defense attorney Clinton Frazier during a hearing in Knox County Criminal ...more

Eric Boyd, right, with defense attorney Clinton Frazier during a hearing in Knox County Criminal Court on Wednesday, December 5, 2018.

But it was Frazier who sought a delay Wednesday in the January trial date Boyd had faced.

“This is the most voluminous (evidentiary file) I’ve ever had to go through,” Frazier said. “I know the families are ready to put this behind them. I understand that … (but) I don’t think we are in a position to go forward.”

Fitzgerald argued Frazier already has the luxury of previewing not only the evidence in the case but the state’s likely trial strategy – thanks to the six trials already held in the case since the couple were slain.

Knox County Assistant District Attorney TaKisha Fitzgerald during testimony during the Zaevion ...more

Knox County Assistant District Attorney TaKisha Fitzgerald during testimony during the Zaevion Dobson slaying trial in Knox County Criminal Court on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017.

Michael Patrick/News Sentinel

“The question (at trial) is going to be his legal culpability,” she said.

McGee, though, insisted a “case of this magnitude” must be handled with great legal care to avoid any potential mistakes that could lead to a new trial should Boyd be convicted.

Frazier’s motion to dismiss the case will be heard and decided at a later hearing. McGee set a February status conference.

First cuffed, last tried

Boyd was the first person to be arrested in the case — caught on his way to bring food to Davidson as he hid out in a vacant house in Northwest Knoxville days after the slayings. He gave authorities vivid details about the kidnapping but insisted he wasn’t there when it happened. Instead, he insisted he got all those details from Davidson.

Knox County Assistant Attorney General Leland, left talks with the Newsom and Christian Families ...more

Knox County Assistant Attorney General Leland, left talks with the Newsom and Christian Families after a status hearing Accused killer Eric Boyd Wednesday, June 6, 2018, in Knox County Criminal Court.

J. Miles Cary/Special to the News Sentinel

Davidson and three other suspects – Letalvis Cobbins, George Thomas and Vanessa Coleman – also denied involvement but – unlike Boyd – that quartet of suspects admitted being in the Chipman Street home while the couple was being held hostage. Those four were charged and ultimately convicted in the slayings and related crimes.

Newsom and Christian were standing in a parking lot of a North Knoxville apartment complex in January 2007 when a group of armed men confronted them, pushed them inside Christian’s SUV, bound, gagged and blindfolded them, and forced them inside Davidson’s Chipman Street house.

Newsom’s burned, bullet-riddled body was found alongside nearby railroad tracks the next day. Christian’s battered body was found inside a trash can in Davidson’s kitchen two days later.

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Newsom’s parents, Hugh and Mary Newsom, have long pushed for charges against Boyd and even visited Cobbins in prison after his conviction in hopes he would testify. He refused — without a deal that would allow him freedom.

Cobbins and Thomas implicated Boyd in their statements to authorities, but those statements can’t be used as evidence against him. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled defendants have the right to confront their accusers via the witness stand, not through unchallenged statements of co-defendants.

Davidson is on death row for his role as ringleader. Cobbins and Thomas are serving life without parole. Coleman, convicted of lesser charges, is serving a 35-year prison term. Thomas and Coleman wound up being tried twice in the case after the judge presiding over their first trials – the late Richard Baumgartner – was exposed as a drug addict.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against Boyd. Instead, they have filed notice they intend to seek a sentence of life with the possibility of parole after a mandatory 51-year prison term if he is convicted.

Given Boyd’s age, he likely would die behind bars before he saw a chance for freedom.